We ALL agree on ONE thing...

[TexasPete]

That is that the Hawks are built to run. Woodson is certainly not an up tempo coach but when we play teams that run like the Suns or the Warriors we play at their pace and the results speak volumes about how this team should play every night. We still are desperate for a PG, a passing and running PG. A guy like TJ Ford, who isn't elite, but would help ignite this team. TJ is not available but there are PGs out there that can play up tempo and get the ball into places where guys are in a position to finish.

Speedy is not the PG we need as he isn't a good passing PG and never has been. Nor is T-Lue. BK seems to not consider the style we play when he makes his player acquisitions...its all by the seast of his pants.

I loved last nights win because it shows what we can do when we play to our strengths. I fear that Woody returns to the real Woody again after the GS game and that is a shame.

BK; Please get us a REAL PG for once!

[SmooveTheFuture]

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That is that the Hawks are built to run. Woodson is certainly not an up tempo coach but when we play teams that run like the Suns or the Warriors we play at their pace and the results speak volumes about how this team should play every night. We still are desperate for a PG, a passing and running PG. A guy like TJ Ford, who isn't elite, but would help ignite this team. TJ is not available but there are PGs out there that can play up tempo and get the ball into places where guys are in a position to finish.

Speedy is not the PG we need as he isn't a good passing PG and never has been. Nor is T-Lue. BK seems to not consider the style we play when he makes his player acquisitions...its all by the seast of his pants.

I loved last nights win because it shows what we can do when we play to our strengths. I fear that Woody returns to the real Woody again after the GS game and that is a shame.

BK; Please get us a REAL PG for once!

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Well he better not because we will not win in a half court game with the Utah Jazz they have great execution in the half court game and we do not. We have to try to run and get utah to run with us they arent as good at running as the half court offense. Also we have to contain Okur more then any other guy he has been killing teams lately with his outside shooting just like he did to us in the disaster game at phillips where we blew a 18 point lead.

[TexasPete]

Good point about the Jazz. When you look to run you can't stand around like we always do in the 4th quarter. Its why the Suns put teams away and are never out of a game. What kills the Hawks in close games? Stagnant offense.

Running keeps the team moving and attacking. Woody is not likely to let us keep running because he is a control guy. Too bad, but I expect us to go back to our half court ways because we rarely play like last night.

[lunar]

even last night we played a half court offense. that's why we won. we didn't allow for phoenix to go crazy with transition offense. everytime phoenix tried to speed the game up, woodson would call a timeout or tell the point (whoever it was at the time) to take the air out the ball. at some points, the game slowed to a crawl. it obviously made phoenix frustrated.

[KB21]

.....that you cannot let the pace of the game effect your effort on the defensive end. I maintain that the key to this team winning is not whether or not they play an up tempo or run and gun style. The key to this team winning is defense. When this team decides to put forth a consistent defensive effort and starts playing good defense night in and night out, it will not matter if this team is playing an up tempo style or a half court style of offense because they will be winning consistently.

If you want a good model for an up tempo team, then I'd look at George Karl's Seattle Supersonics of the early '90s. That team was as up tempo as they came during the early part of the '90s, but they were also among the top defensive teams in the league at the same time. George Karl had them playing Bob Kloppenberg's trapping style of defense, which if done right works very well with a team that wants to be an up tempo team. I thought that's the style we would have had if we had kept Terry Stotts on as the head coach.

[rascurrein]

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Running keeps the team moving and attacking. Woody is not likely to let us keep running because he is a control guy. Too bad, but I expect us to go back to our half court ways because we rarely play like last night.

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You are right. And this is a discussion that has more than a year. We have a team build to run.

The question is: Can we make a deffense that give us the oportunity to run?

If you have a running team like us, you lack of men in the paint. So you allways have to press with two men in 3/4 of the court, but no any guy, there's has to be two guys capable of steal the ball or at least interrupt the running of the other team so we can make a solid defense in the perimeter.

When you build a running team is essential to have in the team men that can provoke turnovers, either by a steal or forcing a bad pass. If you run and you don't do any of this, you will be into a slam dunk contest. You run, you score and just like that the other team with a long pass is running against us. The other thing is that that kind of play requires a men to men deffence.

So:

We need on court a big guy that can moove.

We have to press in 3/4 court at least with two men to avoid a running against.

We need a men to men deffense to avoid jumpers.

We need a deffense that can stop the other team outside of the triple line.

We need only just ONE big guy on court and he could be able to support the team in offense, but more important he has to block and capture d rebounds to start the running of our team.

I'm missing some points, but this is the basic.

The thing is that our HAWKS are an hybrid between control and running that will take us to nowhere.

Is like OZZY's song, "ROAD TO NOWHERE".

[TheNorthCydeRises]

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That is that the Hawks are built to run. Woodson is certainly not an up tempo coach but when we play teams that run like the Suns or the Warriors we play at their pace and the results speak volumes about how this team should play every night. We still are desperate for a PG, a passing and running PG. A guy like TJ Ford, who isn't elite, but would help ignite this team. TJ is not available but there are PGs out there that can play up tempo and get the ball into places where guys are in a position to finish.

Speedy is not the PG we need as he isn't a good passing PG and never has been. Nor is T-Lue. BK seems to not consider the style we play when he makes his player acquisitions...its all by the seast of his pants.

I loved last nights win because it shows what we can do when we play to our strengths. I fear that Woody returns to the real Woody again after the GS game and that is a shame.

BK; Please get us a REAL PG for once!

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So who are we to believe? Posters on Hawksquawk, who think that this should be a running ballclub, even if we don't have PGs healthy enough to run and guys who aren't consistent finishers if they don't have a clear path to the hole?

Or our star SG himself, who said this to Sandy Williams right before the game . .

( paraphrasing )

"We have to just play our game, and not get caught up in what they do. We're not built to run."

While the win last night was great, a lot of you are still failing to realize what exactly went on in that game, and why we looked good when we did run the ball.

1) When you take a lot of jumpers, and miss them, a team can capitalize off of those misses . . by running. The Phoenix system, while great, has a major flaw to it. Their flaw is that they'll let you back in the game, because they encourage everyone on the floor to take open jumpers . . even guys who have no business shooting the ball. So when Phoenix misses 4 - 5 jumpers in a row, it allows a team to grab long rebounds and take advantage of them by running. Even when they shoot a high percentage from the field, they'll have 2 - 3 minute lulls in which they can't hit anything . . . and stretches in games when they can't miss. And that's exactly what happened last night.

2) Phoenix is a HORRIBLE transition defensive team. The same reason why the Hawks looked good against Golden St a few games back when they ran, is the same reason why they looked good in Phoenix last night. If you watch most of Phoenix's games, their opponent almost always look good running the ball, even if that's not they're style. And part of that is because of the way they attack the offensive glass. Marion always crashes the boards. So when a long rebound happens, the opportunity to run is almost always there, because the only person back is the PG or a guy like Raja Bell.

Our running game looks good against teams that can't play transition defense. We have to pick and choose when to run. We're not a running team though. And our guys aren't the best finishers in the world on the break, if someone is in their way.

The running game will look real good Sunday night against the Warriors, win or lose. That same running game won't look so hot against Utah, because they actually play defense. It won't be a philosophy change by Woody. It'll just be a result of better defense by Utah.

[bfwolf]

Our three best players are all highly effective in the transition game. Seems to me like it would make sense to build the offensive philosophy and the rest of the personnel around the talents of those 3 guys.

Fire Woodson. Bring in a coach and PG who want to run.

[Pamfilioso]

run, run, run!

[rascurrein]

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So who are we to believe? Posters on Hawksquawk, who think that this should be a running ballclub, even if we don't have PGs healthy enough to run and guys who aren't consistent finishers if they don't have a clear path to the hole?

Or our star SG himself, who said this to Sandy Williams right before the game . .

( paraphrasing )

"We have to just play our game, and not get caught up in what they do. We're not built to run."

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So you find a positive thing in Woody's coaching. The players believe what he told to them.

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While the win last night was great, a lot of you are still failing to realize what exactly went on in that game, and why we looked good when we did run the ball.

1) When you take a lot of jumpers, and miss them, a team can capitalize off of those misses . . by running. The Phoenix system, while great, has a major flaw to it. Their flaw is that they'll let you back in the game, because they encourage everyone on the floor to take open jumpers . . even guys who have no business shooting the ball. So when Phoenix misses 4 - 5 jumpers in a row, it allows a team to grab long rebounds and take advantage of them by running. Even when they shoot a high percentage from the field, they'll have 2 - 3 minute lulls in which they can't hit anything . . . and stretches in games when they can't miss. And that's exactly what happened last night.

2) Phoenix is a HORRIBLE transition defensive team. The same reason why the Hawks looked good against Golden St a few games back when they ran, is the same reason why they looked good in Phoenix last night. If you watch most of Phoenix's games, their opponent almost always look good running the ball, even if that's not they're style. And part of that is because of the way they attack the offensive glass. Marion always crashes the boards. So when a long rebound happens, the opportunity to run is almost always there, because the only person back is the PG or a guy like Raja Bell.

Our running game looks good against teams that can't play transition defense. We have to pick and choose when to run. We're not a running team though. And our guys aren't the best finishers in the world on the break, if someone is in their way.

The running game will look real good Sunday night against the Warriors, win or lose. That same running game won't look so hot against Utah, because they actually play defense. It won't be a philosophy change by Woody. It'll just be a result of better defense by Utah.

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I still think that we have a team build to run. No one of us are coaches, so my opinion like everybody's opinion, is about what i see, and what i see is that we have a team with players who have the skills to make this team a running team.

And i don't judge this team for a win, this discussion is in this board since i've joined.

When we won with a three point shoot by T Lue Diesel posted that since Lue made that shot he is the hero and no credits to wooddy, and if Lue miss that shot is Woody the one to blame. And i think that this is a good diagnostic about fan's opinion.

We have the players for a running team, the thing is to put them where they give the best for the team, and if we do it we will be a running team, just seeing the players.

If you, northcyde, wants to be guided for the opinions of the players, who saids things that Woody inculcate to them is ok for me, but don't tell that if one player says something we have to be agreed.

[Diesel]

I can halfway agree with that.

However, the running game for us, limits us standing around and becoming an everyone watch JJ afair or an lets take the long bomb and hope for the best.

Running erases our flaws. Our flaws are that we're not really a good scoring team because we run simple offensive sets.... and we haven't mastered those.

However, there is help for the offensive end. His name is Smoove. Had anybody noticed that Smoove has added a running hook to his arsenal. It looks very good too... Woody is going to have to come up with ways to score closer to the basket. That's the simple thing that wins in basketball. I love the fact that Speedy drives and dishes... It gives us a second play in our offensive set... but without our guys being able to move without the ball or recognize teammates moving without the ball, we are best to try to run.

AS far as transitional defenses go... You have to run anyway. A good running team will wear down a team not prepared to run.

I'm not a college basketball expert, but there are several teams that played the college game that should be respected in how they played it.

1. UNLV with Augmon, LJ and the gang.

2. LMU with Gathers, Kimble, and the gang.

3. Arkansas (Richardson) 40 minutes of hell.

4. UK with Mash, Pelphrey, Woods, etc...

I liked those teams much more than the Fab 5, UNC, or Syracuse... because those teams either played defense all game long or they ran all game long. When you do it, you wear teams down...

[SmooveTheFuture]

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That is that the Hawks are built to run. Woodson is certainly not an up tempo coach but when we play teams that run like the Suns or the Warriors we play at their pace and the results speak volumes about how this team should play every night. We still are desperate for a PG, a passing and running PG. A guy like TJ Ford, who isn't elite, but would help ignite this team. TJ is not available but there are PGs out there that can play up tempo and get the ball into places where guys are in a position to finish.

Speedy is not the PG we need as he isn't a good passing PG and never has been. Nor is T-Lue. BK seems to not consider the style we play when he makes his player acquisitions...its all by the seast of his pants.

I loved last nights win because it shows what we can do when we play to our strengths. I fear that Woody returns to the real Woody again after the GS game and that is a shame.

BK; Please get us a REAL PG for once!

---

So who are we to believe? Posters on Hawksquawk, who think that this should be a running ballclub, even if we don't have PGs healthy enough to run and guys who aren't consistent finishers if they don't have a clear path to the hole?

Or our star SG himself, who said this to Sandy Williams right before the game . .

( paraphrasing )

"We have to just play our game, and not get caught up in what they do. We're not built to run."

While the win last night was great, a lot of you are still failing to realize what exactly went on in that game, and why we looked good when we did run the ball.

1) When you take a lot of jumpers, and miss them, a team can capitalize off of those misses . . by running. The Phoenix system, while great, has a major flaw to it. Their flaw is that they'll let you back in the game, because they encourage everyone on the floor to take open jumpers . . even guys who have no business shooting the ball. So when Phoenix misses 4 - 5 jumpers in a row, it allows a team to grab long rebounds and take advantage of them by running. Even when they shoot a high percentage from the field, they'll have 2 - 3 minute lulls in which they can't hit anything . . . and stretches in games when they can't miss. And that's exactly what happened last night.

2) Phoenix is a HORRIBLE transition defensive team. The same reason why the Hawks looked good against Golden St a few games back when they ran, is the same reason why they looked good in Phoenix last night. If you watch most of Phoenix's games, their opponent almost always look good running the ball, even if that's not they're style. And part of that is because of the way they attack the offensive glass. Marion always crashes the boards. So when a long rebound happens, the opportunity to run is almost always there, because the only person back is the PG or a guy like Raja Bell.

Our running game looks good against teams that can't play transition defense. We have to pick and choose when to run. We're not a running team though. And our guys aren't the best finishers in the world on the break, if someone is in their way.

The running game will look real good Sunday night against the Warriors, win or lose. That same running game won't look so hot against Utah, because they actually play defense. It won't be a philosophy change by Woody. It'll just be a result of better defense by Utah.

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He says were not built to run but MANy times this season more then twice he has said we are best when we are running. So which one is it JJ. Here is an AJC article where many guys feel we should be running.

http://www.ajc.com/hawks/content/sports/ha.../0211hawks.html

Anyone who says we arent better running is just blind. Do you realize we have some of the better atheltes in the NBA. How can you play effect half court with no post threat.

[rascurrein]

Read ut supra.

We, as fans of basket, can't be guided for players and coaches statemens or commentators critics.

Cero bola a la gilada.

[Swatguy]

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even last night we played a half court offense. that's why we won. we didn't allow for phoenix to go crazy with transition offense. everytime phoenix tried to speed the game up, woodson would call a timeout or tell the point (whoever it was at the time) to take the air out the ball. at some points, the game slowed to a crawl. it obviously made phoenix frustrated.

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Thank you Lunar, we Did play half court against Pheonix. Speedy came in and put a halt on their runs. The 120 scored were because of the lack of interior defense by the Suns and the Free throw game especially in the last two minutes.

It's funny to read some say we ran with the Suns. That is not what happened. We Defended them and forced them to play a half-court game.

[KB21]

Those college styles have also proven to be failures at the NBA level. Rick Pitino couldn't transition his style to the NBA. Gerry Tarkanian couldn't transition the UNLV style to the NBA. Paul Westhead was a complete joke of a coach when he tried to run his LMU style with the Denver Nuggets. Nolan Richardson never got the chance, even though he was rumored to be going to the Hawks on a couple of occasions in the '90s.

You can't win in the NBA without playing defense, and if this Hawks team tries to run too much, their defensive flaws will be exposed. This team is much better off going with a motion offense and stressing defense.

[Diesel]

Paul Westhead developed the Showtime Lakers running game and won a championship with the Lakers.

I think coaching is a matter of personnell as well as style on this level.

Had Pitino gotten Tim Duncan instead of Mercer, He would have won 3 championships...

Larry Brown coached UCLA and Kansas before coming to the NBA. It's all about the personell you get as well as the style you play...

[DJlaysitup]

Belkin didn't want us where we are today. It's not true. It is simply not true. Like it or not - it is THE TRUTH that Belkin signed off on the JJ deal TWICE - MAX CONTRACT - TWICE.

GET IT Through your f***in heads - Belkin only thought that BK was giving away too much to give the second 1 round pick.

JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJEEEEEEEEEEEZZ how many times do I have to tell this to U idiots

THE SECOND 1ST ROUND PICK IS THE ONE THAT WILL NOW GO TO PHX.

GOSH Almighty...how hard is this? Everbody hates Belkin because he was smart...and a better poker player than the guy (BK) that most of us already accept as an idiot who should be fired. eeeeeeeeeeeeee-shoot me now-eeeeeeeeeeee

[KB21]

Paul Westhead didn't build anything in LA. They won a championship in spite of him, and he was so terrible that Magic Johnson went to the ownership and got him fired. Pat Riley built those Lakers teams.

Paul Westhead is the coach that had a Denver team that allowed 100 points in a half of basketball because he has no concept of the word defense. Westhead's Denver Nuggets were the worst defensive team in the history of the NBA.

As far as Larry Brown goes, I'm not talking about transitioning from the college game to the NBA game. I'm talking about taking a gimmicky offensive style and trying to transition that style to the NBA game.

[AHF]

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GOSH Almighty...how hard is this? Everbody hates Belkin because he was smart...and a better poker player than the guy (BK) that most of us already accept as an idiot who should be fired. eeeeeeeeeeeeee-shoot me now-eeeeeeeeeeee

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No. We hate him because he breached his ownership agreement by trying to seize control of the team instead of working within the ASG system they agreed to. In doing so, he caused an irreparable split among the owners that has severely hampered this team and destroyed this team's credibility for years down the line.

[frosgrim]

Him not signing-off on the AGREED terms of the trade is in NO WAY him agreeing to the trade. He back-doored his disapproval- PERIOD. His behavior was a calculated move to put his foot on the other owners throats to get the team OR realize a HUGE profit.